


You And Me Are In This Together

by afteriwake



Category: CSI: NY
Genre: Aftermath of a Case, Apologetic Mac Taylor, Apologetic Stella Bonasera, Apologies, April Fools' Day, Background Case, Beaches, Best Friends, Birthday, Birthday Presents, Broken Bones, Bullying, Bus Stop, Characters Watching A Movie, Comfort, Comfort Food, Dates, Drabble Collection, Driving, F/M, Flowers, Food, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Injured Stella Bonasera, Literal Sleeping Together, Mac Has PTSD, Mac's Thoughts, Male-Female Friendship, Memories, Messy Office, Moonlight, One-Sided Attraction, POV Mac Taylor, POV Stella Bonasera, Past Claire Conrad Taylor/Mac Taylor, Past Peyton Driscoll/Mac Taylor, Past Stella Bonasera/Frankie Mala, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Serene Stella Bonasera, Stealing Glances, Stella Is Special, Sympathetic Mac Taylor, Teasing, Thunder and Lightning, Thunderstorms, Tropes, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Cards, Worried Mac, agreement, bumping into each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 00:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17032692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Twenty drabbles of things that may or may not have happened between Mac Taylor & Stella Bonasera.





	You And Me Are In This Together

**Author's Note:**

> These drabbles were written a long time ago for **drabbles100** and **smack_ficathon** over on LJ. I'm just transferring them here for posterity. Each fic has the prompts used under the title.

**Special**   
Prompts: _First_ / _Special_

She was special.

She was the first that he would tell if he had an idea, if he had a theory on a case (whether she was on it not), if he was stuck, if he just needed someone to tell him to snap out of it. In a lot of ways, she was his rock, the first person he'd known in a long time who would give it to him straight and not hold back.

In other words, she meant more to him than most of the people he knew, and that made her very special in his book.

**Last Case Of The Night**   
Prompts: _Last_ / _Bus Stop_

She looked around the bus stop. It was the last case of the day, the last place she was going to see before she headed home. Or at least she hoped it was.

At least Mac was there. The times he did say something that wasn't case related made her smile. It made it easier to deal with a highly contaminated crime scene, uncooperative witnesses and the case itself. Part of it was just Mac's presence and the fact that even though this was the last case of the day for them, he'd pour all his energy into solving it.

**Right In Front Of Him**   
Prompts: _Years_ / _It's come to my attention I just might be in love with you - "Tell It Like It Is", Justin Guarini_

He had no clue why it had taken him so long to realize that what he felt for Stella was more than a friendship. Things with Peyton had fluctuated between feeling right and feeling off, and he hated to do that to her. But things with Stella had stayed constant, even after she'd found out about him and Peyton. Maybe it had been the years of close contact or the deep trust they both felt, but when he finally realized his feelings for her had shifted, he started to wonder if maybe it was too late to tell her that.

**Personalized**   
Prompts: _Pink_ / _heart in a cuff-linked hand_

She smiled at the card sitting on her desk. It was pale pink, and the cover showed a dark pink heart in the hands of someone who had cuffs on their wrist. She read it and smiled even more before heading to Mac's office.

"Saw you got my card," he said.

"I love it."

"Had it made just for you," he said, grinning.

"I noticed." She went around his desk and, after giving a quick glance at the hallway, gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Happy Valentine's day, Stella," he said as she pulled away.

"Happy Valentine's day, Mac.."

**Public Displays Of Affection**   
Prompts: _Strangers_ / _holding hands_

It had taken him quite a while to get used to holding her hand when they walked down the street. It only happened when they weren't working, though. On the job they kept the professional attitude they always had, but off the job...

She'd asked why he had a hard time with it and he told her that the idea of strangers making assumptions about them bothered him. She simply told him that it was their business and any strangers who had a comment about it should get over it.

That was enough to get him to hold her hand.

**Not Succumbing**   
Prompts: _Death_ / _do not enter_

When she died, Mac didn't know what to do. He just wanted to be alone, to wallow in his grief for a while. It was like he was walking around with a "do not enter" sign around him. And for a while, no one really talked to him about anything not job-related. 

Except Stella. She wouldn't let him wallow, wouldn't let him succumb to grief and shut the world away, wouldn’t let him collapse in on himself. She entered that cocoon he'd wrapped around himself and she simply would not leave. And after a while, he became fine with that.

**Wanting More**   
Prompts: _Not Enough_ / _through the years_

He smiled at her and she smiled back, his smile just a little dimmer than his, a little less bright. She had his friendship but she wanted more. What she had was not enough because she realized that as long as she had known him, as long as they had been friends, a small part of her had wanted more. For a multitude of reasons it hadn't been possible, and now that it was, she had no idea how to ask for more, how to ask for what she really wanted. And it was hurting her more than he knew.

**Not Getting Her**   
Prompts: _Sixth Sense_ / _"There are three things I have always loved, and never understood - painting, music, women" - Fontenelle_

She knew that he didn't exactly get her. He could look at her and know when she was happy, when she was in pain or when she was putting up a front, hoping that he didn't notice.

But he never really _got_ her. He had never figured out what made her tick. Aside from the job, he never figured out her thought processes, and it amused her to no end to see him try. He could get everything else in the world with a bit of time and patience, but after all these years he _still_ couldn't figure her out.

**Bullying**   
Prompts: _Taste_ / _Dinner_

"You have to eat, Stella."

She sneezed. "My nose is so stuffed up that eating isn't really worth it. The whole point of eating is to taste stuff."

"If you don't eat you stay sick. If you stay sick you won't be able to taste anything. You need to eat."

She glared at him. "You have the soul of a bully, Mac."

He held up the bag. "It's bland soup, so you're not missing much in terms of taste anyway."

"You brought me dinner? I'm touched, Mac. Really."

"Now you just need to eat it. Then maybe you'll get better."

**Relaxation**   
Prompts: _Moon_ / _Beach_

The moon shone down on them as they listened to the crashing waves. "See? This isn't so bad," she said. "Getting away from the labs to just relax is a good thing."

"That's why I play music at a club every Wednesday," he said with a wry grin. "To relax."

"Okay, let me rephrase that. Getting away from the labs to just relax _with me_ is a good thing."

"I think I can agree with that statement."

"You better, Mac, or I'll start having serious doubts as to your intelligence." He just smiled and let her relax against him again.

**Signs**   
Prompts: _Joker_ / _Radioactive Warning Sign_

"Real cute," Stella muttered as she pulled the radioactive warning sign off her door. "I know it's April Fools, and that my office is a mess, but it's not _that_ bad." She crumpled the sign up into a ball and marched into Mac's office. "Tell Danny I'm going to hurt him for the sign bit."

"I'd prefer to stay out of it," Mac said without looking up. He waited for her to leave and then grinned slightly. He really did hope she didn't figure out the sign was his idea and not Danny's. He didn't want her to kill him.

**Wind In Her Hair**   
Prompts: _Air_ / _Open Road_

She had rolled down the window and shut her eyes, leaning into the crisp fall air that entered the car as they drove upstate to get an interview. He kept stealing glances at her, at the slightly dreamy expression on her face that came with that contentment. It was moments like that where the years and cynicism seemed to melt away and he caught a glimpse of what Stella may have looked like when she was younger. And when she almost caught him looking he'd reluctantly pull his eyes back to the open road, waiting for another chance to look.

**The Romantic Comedy Theory**   
Prompts: _Fall_ / _"Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love." - Albert Einstein_

"I can't believe I knocked you over! Mac, I'm so sorry." She reached around and grabbed the papers he'd been carrying as he sat up.

"It's okay, Stella. Nothing broken, just maybe a little bruised."

"I just wasn't paying attention," she said. "As I said, I really am sorry, Mac."

"It's. Okay," he said slowly. "Just help me--"

Their heads knocked together as they reached for the same piece of paper. "If this was a romantic comedy," Stella said, "then we'd be together by the end of it."

He laughed. "Interesting theory, Stella."

"But true," she replied.

"Maybe true."

**Losing Something Important**   
Prompts: _Passing_ / _"When you blame others, you give up your power to change." - Douglas Noel Adams_

He knew the time for him to apologize was slipping by. He'd blamed her for something stupid that really wasn't anybody's fault, but it had made him angry and he felt the need to blame _somebody_. And she'd been unfortunate to cross his path when she did, and...

He took a deep breath. If he kept doing this, things would change, and not for better. He was going to end up losing someone he cared deeply about. He needed to change his own behaviors before he ended up without the one person in the world he couldn't afford to lose.

**Habits**   
Prompts: _Thunder_ / _"Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters." - Nathaniel Emmons_

He flinched at the sound of thunder and she simply rubbed his back soothingly. She knew he wasn't afraid of the thunder, but it reminded him too much of Beirut and the explosions there. He was almost asleep, though, and that's what surprised her, that even so close to sleep it could startle him. She put her arm around him and pulled herself close, settling in next to him to add to the comfort, to let him know she was close. When she felt him put his hand over hers, she realized that maybe some habits were better than others.

**Handpicked**   
Prompts: _Storm_ / _Rose in a Rain Puddle_

He dropped one of the roses he'd planned on giving her for her birthday right in a puddle. He'd chosen to brave the storm and pick them out himself; the vase was sitting in his office, waiting for the flowers. He leaned down and carefully picked it up and then hurried inside. She deserved something special for her birthday this year, and he hoped that this was special enough.

The elevator door opened and she stared at him before smiling. "Mac..."

"Here," he said. "The vase is in my office."

She laughed slightly. "Thanks, Mac."

"No trouble, Stella," he replied.

**Movies Vs Opera**   
Prompts: _Dark_ / _Movie Theater_

"Okay, when's the last time you went out to see a movie?" Stella whispered as the lights dimmed and the old movie came up. 

"A year ago," he said. "Usually I go to the opera."

Stella made a face he could just barely see. "Give me a movie any day."

"What's wrong with opera?"

"I just like movies more," she said with a shrug. "You get to lose yourself more in them."

"Let me take you to the opera once to compare."

"No."

"Then a play."

She paused. "Not Shakespeare, and not experimental. And no musicals. Got that, Mac?"

"Deal."

**Silent Not By Choice**   
Prompts: _Shattered_ / _"Silence is the virtue of fools." - Sir Francis Bacon_

He didn't know what to do. She looked broken, sitting there on the hospital bed. He should have been processing the scene but he had to see her, he had to make sure she was okay. Flack wasn't there, and he was tempted to go in and tell her...

There was nothing he could say right now. Right now he could only process her apartment and wait for Flack to finish what he was doing before he could talk to her, let her know he was there if she needed him.

He had to stay silent, and he hated that.

**Human Crutch**   
Prompts: _Agony_ / _Break A Leg_

"Mac, this really hurts."

He put her arm around his shoulders. "Tell me if this works better than the crutches."

She hobbled into her apartment. "Yeah, a little. It's just those crutches, under the arms..."

He laughed. "I do know the feeling. I've hurt myself a few times."

"Have you ever broken a leg?"

"No, I haven't done that."

"Yet," she said with a small grin.

"Yet. And I hope I never do."

"Next time I see _anyone_ and they tell me to break a leg, I'm going to hit them."

"Stella?"

"Don't even, Mac. I’m not in the mood."

**Redux**   
Prompt: _Writer's Choice - Worry_

It was one of those cases where he knew she was going to take hard, where he just knew things weren't going to be okay. Woman shot her husband and someone else in self-defense and Stella... He knew memories of Frankie and her assault were going to come up, he could see it in her expression. He was worried about her, but she was acting like this case was not going to be a problem at all. 


End file.
